In all of the ease and comfort of modern life it is easy to forget what the world is truly like. It is easy to lose sight of the need to prepare your children for a world which is not their friend. It is easy to love the world. It is so easy that God has given you a clear and dramatic command not to love it. The world has only the appearance of beauty, not the reality. But the appearance of beauty is alluring and powerful, even though it is false. Satan is hard at work putting an appealing, beautiful veneer over the horrible world that he rules. Never underestimate the danger of false beauty!
Your job as a parent is to use the time while your children are in the protected environment of your home to prepare them for the deceptive, hostile world that they must soon face. The day will come when they must leave behind the protection of your greenhouse. Then they must be strong enough and wise enough to see through Satan’s deceit.
Satan has constructed a giant illusion. Even when caught in the awful web of sin, man will naturally choose to follow the deception rather than attempt to break free. In his world, pleasure promises freedom but leads to slavery, and hard work promises fulfillment but often leads only to hard times. This is not what people expect; it is not what the world promises. Yet these promises are part of the grand deception.
• Satan’s world says that personal peace can be achieved through the death of an unborn child.
• Satan’s world says that personal peace can be found with financial security.
• Satan’s world says that sex should not be restricted to marriage.
Satan’s world is not what it seems. You must prepare your children for a world which is deceptive by its very nature. For the most part, the people in this world do not realize they are being deceived. Most would be shocked and horrified to know that they actually are serving Satan. College professors, business executives, self-help gurus, entertainers, and others who do not know Christ are, in fact, serving the cause of Satan, whether they realize it or not.(Eph. 2:1-3) People who think they have the answers to life are, in fact, being led down a path of deception that will one day eventually end in great sadness and horror.
And the grandest deception of them all – Jesus Christ is not the way, the truth and the life.